Listen-up BRICS & other out-of-line nations: no country can have a "Sphere of Influence" except for the USA!

That seems to be what our Fed Gov't has been saying for years.  Talk about hubris!

 https://www.democracynow.org/2023/4/27/monroe_doctrine

It's no wonder that countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, pockets of Europe, and a few other places are fed-up-to-the-gills with the USA's holier-than-thou arrogance.  The majority of our politicians appear to be stuck in the Past, with no clue as to how the world is changing.  They cling to the hostile, immature concept of:  whoever has the biggest stick gets to make all the rules.

Add to the above the fact that we're overextended financially and militarily, plus we're in massive ecological overshoot, and it becomes clear why the USA Empire is crumbling.  In the long run, that's a good thing.  The Rat-Race existence which some refer to as "The American Dream" is somewhat like junk food.  It looks good and tastes good, but it's not especially good for you.

A few have awakened (some long ago), but most of our politicians are in a dogmatic slumber, and such does not bode well for Main Street or the world.  The sleepers are stuck in war, trickle-down economics, patriarchy, neocolonialism, neoliberalism, and "holier-than-thou"-ism.  It doesn't have to be this way.

Politicians who are stuck in the Past (McCarthy, Pence, Trump, Biden, Schumer, et al.) don't have a majority of voters supporting them today but are at the top of the game because of the RNC and the DNC.  Those two Committees  (it seems to me) make sure that forward-looking, comprehensive thinkers don't get nominated to run for President.  So with the Dems, people like Warren and Sanders don't have a chance.  With the Repubs, someone who has (for example) a non-interventionist foreign policy - such as Rand Paul - has no chance either.

What it all means to me is as follows.  The stale, out-of-touch, Establishment factions - which are the majority in the top tiers of each major Party - will almost always be the lapdogs of the Oligarchs and Plutocrats.  Overall, that means we'll continue to have wars, interventions, sanctions, eco-overshoot, insane military spending, neocolonialism, etc.  That is, unless we...

stop electing those who adhere to failed concepts/policies/actions.

Neoliberalism, neocolonialism, trickle-down economics, constant intervention in the affairs of other nations, spying on literally everyone, trying to be the world's police, financial/economic sanctions (which harm Main Streets more than Leaders), and acting as if we are King of the World are all not only bad ideas/actions, but also dangerous to world stability.  If - because of the RNC & DNC - only oligarch lapdogs are on the ticket, then vote for the Green Party (which is better by far for the world than the major Parties) , or the Constitution Party, or the Libertarian Party, or some other Party. 

People say, but third parties don't have a chance of getting elected.  They certainly don't if everyone keeps saying and believing that.  In any case, such could be a loud message to the major Parties, a boycott of sorts...IF enough people participated.  Or, simply don't vote.  The game is rigged anyway (but not in the manner thought by the Trump Cult).

I've been keenly observing USA elections since 1956 and one thing is clear.  About 95% of the time, voters keep electing the same types of politicians to high office:  smooth talkers, believers in USA hegemony, people who essentially are ecologically illiterate, those who think infinite economic growth is a good thing, people who have interventionist foreign policies, and those who believe the USA should be the world's police force.  All of that must cease if we are to provide our progeny a sustainable future.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Every-Four-Years Comedy & Tragedy in the USA Has Begun

Although the next Presidential election is more than a year away, campaigning for it is already off and running.  This year it appears to be more comic & tragic than in any recent past years.  So, let's take a brief, hard look at why I say that.  We'll examine only the two major Parties...the Trump Party (TP), and the Democratic Party (the Dems).  The Republican Party seems to have dried up and blown away.
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The TP most likely will be nominating a guy who is basically ignorant, a wannabe autocrat, and a psychological gaslighter.  Although grossly ignorant of many significant concepts, he nonetheless is quite clever at manipulating people and lying to them.  His lies are so blatant, numerous, and obvious that his running for office again is a complete comedy.  The tragedy is that he may again get elected.  His current Administration's primary legacy will be:  abuse of child immigrants.  What has happened on his watch in that regard is beyond unconscionable.  In my opinion, it's criminal.

There will be lots of talk by the TP about "illegal immigration", but little to none about asylum seekers and the primary reason for them fleeing their Central American countries:  past USA support for dictators and thugs in those homelands, plus their neoliberal, privatization policies.
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The Dems have about twenty people running for the nomination.  I've never heard of half of them, so I assume any appeal to voters they possess is regional in nature.  Maybe it will become national, maybe not.  Of the total twenty or so, some seem to be running mostly on a single issue, which varies from person to person.  One or two seem to be running only to defeat Trump, with not much else in their platform.  The Upper Crust of the Dems (which comprises many of the vote-stealing "super-delegates") appears to be leaning toward Hillary-Lite (Joe Biden), because he's the neoliberal, "establishment" candidate with close ties to the Financial Sector.  That's important to the DNC.  If he gets nominated, most likely the Dems will again (as a friend put it) snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  Now, that's funny!  It's also tragic.

There will be lots of talk by the Dems about immigration, but probably none about Hillary (& the rest of our Gov't) supporting the 2009 coup in Honduras.  The result was corruption, neoliberal privatization, thugs, gangs, murders, and unemployment.  No wonder many common people there are fleeing their homeland.  In 2016, we were still giving millions to that thug gov't.
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If the last several weeks are any indication, the election in 2020 again will be primarily about personalities, not issues.  Get ready for another sham election.  It's plain to me why 50% of eligible voters don't vote.  The whole thing is a farce.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Election = a Mixed Bag - Plus, World Corporate Empire

In what should have been a resounding, slam-dunk rejection of the corporatist, plutocratic, serial-lying, ignorant but clever, law-breaking Trump Admin (and any candidate supported by The Don), the election turned out to be a mixed bag.  There are many reasons for that, but in this essay I'll focus on a chief reason.

[Technically, all the election results have not yet been tabulated.  This is being written just before midnight on Tuesday, Mountain Standard Time.  Nevertheless, I feel comfortable with the "mixed bag" characterization.  Of course, both sides undoubtedly will claim victory on Wednesday.  Once again, and for any new readers here, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat.]

Just as during the Bill Clinton Era, today's Democratic Party (at the highest levels) is run by plutocratic corporatists...or their puppets.  After Clinton left office, the DNC re-took power from the Clintonite DLC (Dem Leadership Council, which heavily leaned toward Corporatism).  Unfortunately for genuine Populists, the DNC quietly adopted most of the policies of the outgoing, corporatist DLC.

So, today (& for a number of years), the only difference between so-called Democrats and so-called Republicans is on most social Hot-Button issues---such as gun control, abortion, gay rights, etc.---and maybe one or two non-Hot-Button, domestic issues.  When it comes to the economy, finance, war, empire, monetary policy, fiscal policy, corporatism, and foreign policy, the two Parties (again, at the highest levels) are pretty much the same.

All of the above means that the Dems in control of their Party don't want to rock the Corporate Boat.  That's why, in the lead-up to the election, we heard little to nothing about the following---

1.  About 50% of working families in the USA are either in poverty, or so close to the brink of it that the difference doesn't matter.  They are in the "Precariat Class", a term coined by the economist & professor, Guy Standing.  People in this Class are insecure relative to their material & psychological existence.  Their lives, through little to no fault of their own, have become extremely precarious.

2.  Of the remaining 50%, about 35% of them are doing okay, but they still are in the Precariat Class...at least in terms of economic and financial stability.  Their jobs and lifestyle are no longer secure.  They could lose it all virtually in a few weeks, or at most, a few months.

3.  The economy is "booming" only for about the top 15% of income earners.  Despite any piddly wage increases of late, wages/salaries still essentially are stagnant (after adjustment for price inflation).  That's been true for about thirty years.  In the same period, the Upper Crust has increased its income by 700%.

4.  Our crushing National Debt (which has the potential of further ruining our economy) is not primarily due to social spending; rather, the main cause is massive Corporate Welfare (including military spending).  Corporate welfare DWARFS all social spending combined.  The "Nanny State" in the USA is for corporations, not people.

5.  Our foreign policy kowtows to Mega Corporations...especially those in the Financial Sector.  Our Fed Gov't is belligerent on the world stage because that ultimately benefits the Big Boys in Biz.  [See the book, War is a Racket, by General Smedley Butler, a Marine for 33 years.]  Our foreign policy is further bankrupting our country.  Do you really believe that we need 900 military bases around the world?  Do you really believe that we still need to be in Afghanistan...after 17 years?  Do you really believe that sanctions on a country are not an act of war?  Do you really believe that we need more expensive nukes?  Our military budget already is larger than those of the next top seven countries combined...and that includes China & Russia.

6.  The goal of Mega Corps is to privatize everything...worldwide.  At the highest levels in DC, politicians are helping them do that...or, at the very least, not opposing them.  The monopolists of Mega Biz are moving us all toward NeoFeudalism, and the pace rapidly is increasing.  In the not-too-distant future, the Middle Class no longer will exist.

7.  Finally, our foreign policy is crucial mainly because it drives domestic policy.  Surveillance, War, Trade Wars, Sanctions, Empire...it all drains economic security from We the People.  It all enriches the Upper Crust at our expense.  It serves to funnel spending away from any safety net for the most vulnerable, and increasingly, from any economic security for everyone who isn't in the top tier of income earners.
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The Big Boys & Girls at the DNC ignore most of the above.  Even the small Progressive Wing of the Democratic Party often appears to not get the significance of foreign policy vis-a-vis the World Corporate Empire.  The Democratic hierarchy is basically the same as the Republicans when it comes to foreign policy, sanctions, war, and Empire.

It all comes down to more wealth for the already wealthy...and the top Democrats don't want to rock the boat.  So they mostly ignore Corporatism, and instead, concentrate on immigration or Russian "interference".  No wonder they can't slam-dunk the rejection of Trump & Crew...and if anything needs slam-dunking, it's that.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well